March 2018

It’s been a full 9 days since Yuri’s Moving Up ceremony, and I still can’t believe the school year is finally over! It’s been an awesome first year of regular schooling and we’ve made a lot of new friends. I also saw my son develop good study habits and self-discipline. But the highlight of the year, for me, was probably seeing Yuri do things on his own, meet people — both kids and adults — on his own, get along with everyone, and realising that he will do just fine.

As for me, I’m amazed that I’ve been able to keep up with preparing a healthy baon everyday. Yes, it’s a big deal for me! They were not as bongga as the ones I made from scratch and lovingly arranged in his container in June, but at least there were still fruits, cheese, and the occasional homemade food. It’s still an achievement for me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop striving for better.

Going back to the Moving Up ceremony, Yuri got three awards: With Honors, Star Reader, and Enthusiastic Learner. I mentioned quite discreetly in my last post that we were involved in a little drama in the days leading to the ceremony; it had something to do with the awards I mentioned above. I don’t think about it anymore and I’m just hoping it wouldn’t happen again. After all, it’s already been resolved so move on na!

Yuri’s Learning Style

No one in his class got an award higher than With Honors because of the school’s grading system. It’s not a big issue as long as the educators fairly assess each child as a unique individual. You see, Yuri doesn’t struggle with academics but he’s timid and is not a performer. He performs when needed (e.g. when he was made Joseph in their Christmas play) but he’s not as comfortable in the spotlight as other kids are. He prefers being in the back or being in the corner, quietly doing his own thing. Which is okay!

He certainly didn’t inherit this trait from me because I am epallol but I relish in Yuri’s uniqueness. He is a doer and whatever he puts his heart into doing, he tries his best to do well. Unfortunately, this can mean being pitted against the performers, the speakers, and those who just shine effortlessly — which I try to understand because there’s more than 30 kids in his class and comparison is unavoidable. Good thing he aces his examinations, even the on-the-spot Stanine academic assessment done by the school.

Yeah, I am fully aware that this is a strong argument for homeschooling, but Yuri’s gonna be kawawa if I push on homeschooling since I really do not have the time it takes to be a full-time educator huhu. Because formal schooling is our best option, I’m just hoping and pushing for the “reserved” kids to also be recognised fairly. 🙂

Moving Up Ceremony

Anyway, here are more pictures of Yuri’s Kindergarten Moving Up ceremony! Theirs is very special because they are the first batch of kids ever to use the school’s newly built auditorium. As in they were still finishing it less than two weeks before the ceremony. It was exciting to see the kids sing and dance. After all those rehearsals, I could only imagine the relief their teachers felt — they can finally breathe now!

Before the program started, with his friend Christopher

From the school’s official Facebook page (my sister insisted on going upstage, too, because she’ll never have the chance again haha – she’s graduating, too, but they’re not going to use the auditorium)

From the school’s official Facebook page

From the school’s official Facebook page

With his classmates (right) Jhia and Isabella, and AM batchmate (left) Zoe

With his classmate, Carl

With his classmate, Toffy

And with his best friend (“bro,” he corrected me), Antoine

With Tita Angel, their teacher aide

With Teacher Han, their substitute teacher

With Teacher Lorraine, their adviser who just gave birth in December, and Isabella

With Teacher Dinah (left), their Christian Living teacher, and Teacher Grace, their prefect of discipline

The ceremony ended early in the afternoon, and after taking pictures with virtually everyone we see inside the auditorium, it was time to go. We’re scheduled to have a more formal graduation + birthday celebration next week so we just ate an early dinner at Bistro Selera.

And the boy was treated to a giant cotton candy!

It was a very fulfilling year, and while I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, I am glad that kindergarten year ended on a high note. I am looking forward to another fun-filled and learning-filled year. First grade, here we come!

OMG, I thought I would be able to blog once final examinations are done. Well, Yuri has had his final examinations done for more than two weeks now (the last day of their exams was last March 2nd pa), but I barely blogged. I didn’t know I would be even busier after final examinations!

I’m such a noob school-mom. I had no idea there would be so much to do after the final exams and before their Moving Up ceremony. Costumes, rehearsals, schedules… I was not prepared at all!

For starters, the PM kids (us) had to adjust their body clock again because they had to go to school in the morning to be with the AM kids. And because they only had a total of 8 days to prepare for their Moving Up (and we are talking about 5-7 year olds here), for the final week of rehearsals, they were expected to be in school for the whole day. It was a major adjustment for us since we’ve never had to stay in school for more than 4-5 hours.

I appreciate that they didn’t make the kids wear intricate costumes (part of the school policy), so at least there’s less hassle on our part as parents. However, no matter how practical, we still had to buy costumes and their Moving Up attire.

Moving Up

But finally it’s done! Yuri’s class had their Moving Up ceremony last Thursday, March 15th. I’ll be a bit cheeky here and mention that there was a bit of drama that happened to us at school, but that was already resolved — all’s well that ends well. Special mention to my friends, George and Yankee, to whom I vented. Thank you for listening!

The ceremony itself was bittersweet. It was so much fun watching the kids sing, dance, and perform. It was truly a culmination in every sense of the word, and we were filled with pride watching how much our children improved. Of course, it was doubly fun witnessing the ceremony with my co-parents who also became my friends.

I’ll stop here because Yuri’s Moving Up deserves a different post, but I’ll show you some pictures!

These kids were the first group of students to use the school’s newly-built auditorium

Grabbed from the school’s official FB page

Grabbed from the school’s official FB page

With my pretty co-parents 🙂

Renovation

But more than the preparations for Moving Up, the thing that’s been bringing me a lot of hassle is this:

This used to be the back part of our house. It had housed our washing machine and the clothesline. We don’t do our laundry at home anymore — in fact, our clothesline was barely used and our washing machine had been unused for the past 2-3 years. So we decided to take the wall down and convert the unused space into a new, more spacious kitchen. It’s exciting but when there’s a renovation taking place inside your own house, it’s very stressful because it’s messy, it’s dirty, it’s dusty… Lahat na!

In fact, because our current kitchen is virtually covered in cement dust (cleaning is futile because once they start working again, it’s going to be covered in dust again), we’re relying on food delivery 75% of the time. And because it is so uninspiring to stay in the kitchen, I have stopped making healthy food. I’m back to eating carbs (because you can’t make me wash veggies and make salads in this condition) so I’m just carefully watching my portions na lang.

I can’t wait for this renovation to be over!

On the brighter side of things, I can now finally say that it is officially SUMMER VACATION! We’re gonna be busy, busy, busy, but the nice kind of busy. My planner is going to be full… I can’t wait regretting enrolling Yuri in different summer classes and complaining about hectic schedules! 😅

Raise your hands with me if you also can’t believe it’s already March!

Wasn’t it just yesterday when Yuri was starting kindergarten? I still vividly recall how frazzled I was during the first day (I ironed everything…down to Yuri’s socks — now I know better!), how I looked forward to the orientation and the first PTA meetings, how we made friends in class… Of course, it wasn’t that long ago, only 9 months ago, but you know what I mean!

In fact, just earlier this morning, I went to the school’s PTA General Assembly, the second for this year (the first one took place in July). As usual, I got out of the general assembly feeling more stressed than usual (loooong story), but it’s okay. I’m just rejoicing because Yuri’s final exams are finally over!

Yes, they had their final exams last week. Ang aga, ‘no? I am not complaining at all! It’s been terribly busy for the past two weeks, with all the work + real estate commitments and studying with Yuri for his finals. I’m so glad it’s over. Tomorrow, they’re going to start rehearsing na for their Moving Up ceremony. We’re still going to school but at least, no more stress na (at least for this aspect).

While I love taking Yuri to school, I’m looking forward to summer break when I don’t have to dress up and get out of the house. I can almost taaaste it. On the other hand, I want Yuri’s summer break to be productive, and we’re already starting to plan for it. Here are some of our plans:

1. Swim School

I’m waiting for Red Cross Davao to make their announcement regarding this year’s summer swimming lesson schedule. We missed last year’s so now I’ll make sure to enrol Yuri in their program as early as possible.

2. Jollibee Mini Managers Camp or McDonald’s Kiddie Crew

Isa lang, not both! I’ve heard good things about either two. I like McDo because the nearest location to our house is more convenient. However, I think Yuri prefers Jollibee because he likes the uniform better. Whichever works, honestly.

Apart from this two, I’m also thinking of enrolling Yuri to a music school. Yes, I’m still not over this ambition! However, while I want our summer break to be productive, I don’t want it to be hectic. Still, if I can find a sweet spot in between to achieve a balanced schedule, I might as well take it (with Job’s consent, of course, since he already vetoed last year LOL).